Cristiano Ronaldo will finish 2023 as the top goal scorer after Manchester City head coach Pep Guardiola confirmed that striker Erling Haaland will miss the match against Sheffield United on December 30.
Haaland was the only one who could have caught Ronaldo but since the Norwegian is ruled out of Man City’s next match, the Portuguese is set to finish the year as top goal scorer with 53 goals to his name.
Haaland got injured during City’s trip to the Villa Park on December 6 and has been absent since then.
Top scorers for club and country in 2023:
Cristiano Ronaldo - 53 goals
Harry Kane - 52 goals
Kylian Mbappe - 52 goals
Erling Haaland - 50 goals
Mbappe, Haaland and Kane have no more matches scheduled in the year while Al-Nassr will play against Al-Taawoun on December 30. However, since Ronaldo is guaranteed to finish the year with the most goals, he is likely to rest for the upcoming match.
Cristiano Ronaldo in 2023:
- 58 matches
- 53 goals
- 15 assists
After a disastrous 2022 where Ronaldo only managed to bag 16 goals as he had trouble finding consistent game time with Manchester United because he was not greatly favoured by their coach Erik Ten Hag, the five-time Ballon d’Or winner made an astounding comeback, something he is known for, and went all the way to become the top scorer of 2023.
It is worth noting that Ronaldo has played for some of the biggest clubs in the world like Manchester United, Real Madrid, and Juventus where he created history and became a legend in little to no time.
Ronaldo played 438 matches with Madrid where he scored a whopping amount of 450 goals, a record that is likely to remain unbeaten, and provided 131 assists.
With Man United, across his two stints, the forward scored 145 goals and provided 64 assists.
In his 21-year-long career, Ronaldo also won the Ballon d’Or, the highest individual award in football, five times and clinched the UEFA Champions League many times as well.